1. Field
The invention relates to a method for synthesizing mesoporous silica nanoparticles. More particularly, the invention relates to a method for synthesizing mesoporous silica nanoparticles of a defined size with a controlled porosity and pore size. The invention also relates to the loading and releasing of target materials from the synthesized mesoporous silica nanoparticles, and the functionalization of the synthesized mesoporous silica nanoparticles with biologically relevant glycoconjugates allowed for specific cellular targeting, demonstrating the applicability of the mesoporous silica nanoparticles for both specific cellular imaging and diagnostics, and targeted drug delivery.
2. Description of the Related Art
A current problem with chemotherapy is that cancer treatment drugs are not specific in treatment. Essentially, cancer treatment drugs are designed to disable processes that occur more frequently in cancer tissue than in healthy tissue. However, this approach is severely limited because although cancer cells are preferentially affected, healthy tissue may still be damaged to a significant extent based on the strength of the drug treatment. Therefore, in traditional chemotherapy, the strength of cancer treatment drugs that can be used is limited by the adverse effects to healthy tissue necessary for sustaining life.
Traditionally, cancer treatment drugs have achieved improved selectivity through mode of action, however, better processes are needed to minimize the damage to healthy tissue.
Current research directives in targeted drug delivery, specific cellular imaging, and diagnostics provide solutions to these problems, and will undoubtedly constitute the basis for chemotherapy in the future. For example, the use of bio-functionalized nano-materials for targeted drug delivery may allow for unprecedented specificity in the targeting of drugs on cancer cells with minimal collateral damage to healthy tissue. Similar bio-functionalization targeting techniques may also allow for more precise and sensitive diagnostic imaging, providing for early detection and diagnosis of cancer tissue, thereby leading to a more effective treatment of cancer.
Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) have been shown to possess characteristics indicating their potential utility for applications in medical and biotechnical applications, such as drug delivery, medical diagnostic cell imaging, and bio-systems analysis.
Accordingly, what is needed is a method for synthesizing a MSN of a defined size with a controlled porosity and pore size, whereby a surface charge on the MSN can be easily manipulated via post-synthetic modifications for controlling the release of a drug or fluorescent absorbed in the MSN only after the drug or fluorescent has been endocytosed into a target tissue.